A newly introduced bill could become the most harmful anti-animal legislation of our time.
Click here to help stop it!
The EATS Act (Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression) could remove all state-mandated protections for animals exploited by agricultural industries. The bill forbids states to place any pre-harvest regulations or standards on any agricultural products. It was intentionally written in a vague way so that it will apply to as many areas as possible.
Minimal protections that animal advocates have worked tirelessly for decades to pass will be deemed irrelevant. Regulations could be reversed in states that have banned intensive confinement of animals, including gestation and farrowing crates too small for pigs to turn around, battery cages too narrow for hens to spread their wings, and veal crates for calves.
This type of confinement drives animals to the brink of insanity. Pigs locked in gestation crates chew the metal bars until their mouths are covered in ulcers. Stressed out hens cannibalize each other in these conditions. Banning intensive confinement is the least we can do for farmed animals being exploited for food.
Advice from veterinarians, animal behavioral scientists, animal care providers, and advocates will be ignored under the EATS Act.
Even California’s Prop 12, which mandates minimum space requirements for animals in the food industry and took years of uphill battle to pass, would be cast aside.
It’s not just animals in the food industry, either. As fur farms and puppy mills legally constitute “agriculture,” these industries are also at risk of being completely de-regulated. These industries are harmful enough as they exist today. Commercial puppy mills are concentrated in the Midwest because of the lack of dog protection laws in a select few states. This shift could give the green light for commercial puppy mills to expand operations across the United States. This would contribute greatly to the crisis animal shelters are already seeing across the country.
The bill’s impact is not limited to animals, either. Regulations that protect human health, worker safety, and environmental conservation would also be up for elimination and could not be passed by states in the future.
State laws pertaining to agriculture are endless. Individual states have passed laws regarding pesticide application on fields, arsenic in food, protection against lead poisoning, chemicals in baby food, pollution standards for spraying sewage on crops, child labor, and more.
The EATS Act is being disguised as a savior of rural life in the United States. The reality is that the EATS Act allows room for mega-corporations to run completely unchecked. Agricultural giants like Smithfield and Tyson Foods want to pack as many animals into as small of spaces as possible, maximizing profits. These are the powerful businesses that will be lobbying for the EATS Act. This bill will not “help” small farms.
Luckily, this dangerous bill has yet to pass the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives. But it’s only a matter of time until a hearing is scheduled. That’s why we must act now, informing our Senators of our strong opposition.
You can help stop the EATS Act immediately by writing a letter to your senator today. Please don’t hesitate, and be sure to share this article on social media. We cannot let so much progress be undone for animals.
